Vietnam’s Giang brothers miss top 3 spot in UK talent show

The Giang brothers in Vietnam's military uniform perform their daredevil performance at Britain's Got Talent 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Hai An

The final act of daring went ‘beyond beyond,’ but the artists only landed fifth position.

In a giant leap of faith, imagination and daring, the Giang brothers upped the ante considerably in their death-defying acrobatic act and landed more gasps of wonder and amazement from the audience in the finals of the Britain’s Got Talent show in London.

They also won superlative comments from all four awe-struck judges.

“Beyond beyond,” declared David Walliams, while Alesha Dixon exclaimed, “You were like Gods up there!” A visibly relieved Amanda Holden said she “can’t believe this is part of a talent show.”

The toughest judge to please, Simon Cowell, said “My God, you upped your game,” and also called them the “greatest showmen.”

In an act they’d never attempted without wearing a harness earlier, the brothers, Giang Quoc Nghiep, 28, and Giang Quoc Co, 33, dressed in Vietnam’s military uniform, stepped up independent stands with a small circular top instead of stairs with one balancing the other’s head on his own head.

In a successful move calculated to heighten the sense of drama, the last step fell away to the side, leaving the brothers no option to take a long step across the “chasm” to safety.

However, this act of unimaginable daring did not win the brothers a top 3 place in the contest, which in itself shocked many viewers.

One YouTube viewer, Ulvaeus, expressed the views of many when he wrote: “These brothers were by far and away the most truly talented contestants this year. Incredible athleticism, skill, fearlessness, flair, humility. They should have won this contest, but alas, the result was rather predictable. The British public tend to vote for sentimental reasons and while the winner was a talented fellow who deserves a lot of credit for overcoming his disabilities, he should not have won this competition over the Giang Brothers.﻿”

The competition was won by Lee Ridley, who uses the stage name, The Lost Voice Guy, because he actually cannot speak because of a cerebral palsy affliction.

According to Digital Spy, a British entertainment website, the Giang brothers received 9.5 percent of the votes, putting them the fifth place. The top three acts from Lee Ridley received 21 percent, comedian Robert White got 17.2 percent for his comedy act, and singer Donchez Dacres earned 11.2 percent for his singing performance.

The result was announced at Britain on June 3 on live TV. Ridley won 250,000 Pounds ($334,000), and a chance to appear at the Royal Variety Performance.

In a video recorded back stage, the Giang brothers mentioned the difficulties they’d faced during practice, how grateful they were for fans’ support, and expressed their happiness at being able to highlight Vietnam’s global profile.

The brothers, natives of Ho Chi Minh City, got into the act almost two decades ago through their grandfather, performing in a circus. While they have performed in many countries since, their first claim to global fame came in 2016, when they set a new Guinness World Record ‘for the most stairs climbed while balancing a person on the head,’ easily beating the previous record of 26 stairs in a minute set by Chinese couple Tang Tao and Su Zengxian in 2014. Nghiep and Co climbed 90 stairs in 52 seconds at the Cathedral of Girona in Spain.